The Artist Corporation and the Collective

Abstract

From “Black Collectivities: A Conference,” held May 3–4, 2013, at Northwestern University’s Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and the University of Chicago’s Arts Incubator. After examining the vast structural responses to the need for collective organizing and synergistic effort, Gates has decided that the traditional corporation may offer us both relief and pleasure. His jest “I am fifteen corporations” is a declaration of radical business acumen (or foolishness) and a cry about the need for additional structures of inclusivity, including corporations. While examining the role of legal entities, Gates also posits the necessity for temporary and informal collectives, the gatherings that convene and dissolve around caring for places, things, and people. Referencing the archives housed at his Dorchester Projects, Gates discusses the collective in relationship to collections.